In Him We Live and Move and Have Our Being

In one paragraph

The pastor opened in Acts 18:18 through 19:7, tracing Paul's movements from Corinth through Ephesus and back again, and the story of Apollos learning the fuller gospel from Priscilla and Aquila. The sermon stayed close to the actual geography and the ordinary details of travel, stopping, and waiting, reading those details as the shape of a life lived in step with God. A prayer for the families...

Read together

1. Acts 18:18 starting point for the passage, Paul leaving Corinth with his hair cut at Cenchreae after keeping a vow
2. Acts 18:19 Paul entering the synagogue at Ephesus and reasoning with the Jews
3. Acts 18:20 the Ephesians asking Paul to stay longer, which he declined
4. Acts 18:22 described as the single verse where the second missionary journey ends and the third begins
5. Acts 16 Paul and companions hindered by the Holy Spirit from going into Asia and Bithynia, ending up at Troas
6. Matthew 3:1-13 read aloud to explain John's baptism of repentance, including his preaching, his description, and his pointing forward to Jesus
7. Acts 18:24-26 Apollos described as eloquent and proficient in scripture but knowing only John's baptism, then taught more accurately by Priscilla and Aquila
8. Acts 18:27-28 Apollos going to Achaia and powerfully refuting the Jews in public, demonstrating by the scriptures that Jesus was the Christ
9. Acts 19:1-2 Paul arriving in Ephesus and asking disciples whether they received the Holy Spirit when they believed
10. Acts 19:3-5 disciples saying they had only received John's baptism, then being baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus
11. Acts 19:6 Paul laying hands on them, the Holy Spirit coming on them, and their speaking in tongues and prophesying
12. Acts 19:7 noted there were about twelve men in all, called a callback to twelve disciples
13. Acts 19:8 Paul speaking boldly in the synagogue for three months, discussing and persuading about the kingdom of God
14. Acts 19:9 some becoming hardened and speaking evil of the Way, so Paul withdrew and held daily discussions at the school of Tyrannus
15. Acts 19:10 Paul teaching at the school of Tyrannus for two years so that all in Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord
16. Acts 2:4 day of Pentecost cited as first instance of the Holy Spirit coming with tongues, compared to what happened in Ephesus
17. Acts 8:17 Holy Spirit coming upon the Samaritans when Peter and John were present, cited as parallel to Ephesus
18. Acts 10 Peter going to Cornelius's house in Caesarea and the Holy Spirit falling on Gentiles just as at Pentecost
19. Acts 17 Paul alone in Athens on Mars Hill, speaking of God as creator who is not in temples made by human hands and who appoints times and boundaries of habitation
20. John 3:22-36 identified as John's last testimony, including 'he must increase but I must decrease,' pointed to as what John's ministry was about
21. Deuteronomy 18 Moses's prophecy of the coming prophet, referenced in connection with the Samaritan woman's recognition of Jesus as the Taheb

Talk about it

1. The pastor described Apollos as someone who was accurately teaching things about Jesus but had only been acquainted with the baptism of John. What is the difference between knowing about Jesus and actually knowing Him, and how have you experienced that distinction in your own life?
2. Priscilla and Aquila pulled Apollos aside privately and explained the way of God more accurately to him, and he received it with humility. Can you think of a time when someone corrected or deepened your understanding of the faith, and how did you respond to that?
3. Paul was hindered by the Holy Spirit from going into Asia in Acts 16, but by Acts 19 God's will was clearly for him to go to Ephesus. The pastor asked whether we can be sensitive to when God is closing a door for a season rather than forever. How do you personally try to discern the difference between a closed door and a delayed one?
4. The sermon pointed out that Paul spent three months in the synagogue and then two full years at the school of Tyrannus, reaching both Jews and Greeks across all of Asia. What does that kind of patient, daily presence in a community look like for ordinary believers who are not apostles?
5. The pastor said that the gospel most often moves forward through what one of his seminary professors called the vast and unchronicled witness of believers just living their lives in Christ. Where in your own daily life, your neighborhood, workplace or family, do you sense God has placed you to be that kind of witness right now?